Deconstructing Faith & Practice (Government Edition)

We ought to pay close attention to what’s happening in Washington DC.   The Spirit of Antichrist at work in the churches is now at work in Government.  That is to say there are startling parallels between what individuals caught up in the destruction of their faith do & Elon Musk’s “algorithm.”

From the Christian Post: 

1. Question every requirement

“Each should come with the name of the person who made it. You should never accept that a requirement came from a department ... Then you should question it, no matter how smart that person is. Requirements from smart people are the most dangerous, because people are less likely to question them. Always do so, even if the requirement came from me [Elon]. Then make the requirements less dumb.”

Adults who deconstruct question authority.  There’s a right way & a wrong way to do that.  You can do so using the Bible correctly exegeted, exposited, understood, & applied, or you can reject the Scriptures & run with your own intuition.    

Musk is a professed nullifidian who is notorious for his anarchic / quasi-chaotic approach to doing business.  He treats people like objects & acts as if his latest venture is another expensive toy with which to play & after which he finds himself doing whatever he can to repair the damage. That’s what you get when you introduce moral & philosophical arbitrariness into a meticulously ordered system. 

If we ought to view the Gospels as less than fully authoritative because they are anonymous, why should a federal employee read & reply to an anonymous email as if his or her life depended on it?  That scenario is playing out in DC right now.  

2. Delete any part or process you can

“You may have to add them back later. In fact, if you do not end up adding back at least 10% of them, then you didn’t delete enough.

…Like nuclear engineers, air traffic controllers & health inspectors?  Elon Musk, thy name is “Marcion.”

3. Simplify and optimize

“This should come after step two. A common mistake is to simplify and optimize a part or process that should not exist.” 

If everything & everyone is up for grabs, how do we know what should & should not exist particularly with a VP who thinks the courts lack the legal authority to check the President’s agenda.

4. Accelerate cycle time

“Every process can be speeded up. But only do this after you have followed the first three steps. In the Tesla factory, I mistakenly spent a lot of time accelerating processes that I later realized should have been deleted.”

Notice how he admits to having to fix his brand new toy?   What happens to churches that go this route?  They reject reformation in favor of reconstruction, & that’s how you wind up with Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, & other Christian heresies.   They reject reformation & continuity in favor of reconstruction & discontinuity. 

5. Automate

“That comes last. The big mistake in Nevada and at Fremont [Tesla factories] was that I began by trying to automate every step. We should have waited until all the requirements had been questioned, parts and processes deleted, and the bugs shaken out.” 

When Christianity flirts with radical Post-Modern deconstructionism, this stage is your new paradigm, and it’s heretical or even atheological. 

O LORD, Hear our prayer…